Gregory's ServerIn response to commentary by Cory Doctorow, I've started experimenting with Duck Duck Go. Early results are promising.
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26 comments
@cavyherd @edsuom @samir Yeah, I have used DuckDuckGo as my default search engine in Firefox for more than 10 years, I get the results I have asked for, and their image search is a fast way to locate relevant results too. Google is the Walmart of search, you get only what everybody else wants, with a strong biased towards corporate products. If I could only find a good alternative to YouTube, which is now a morass of popups and subscription asks.  @Urban_Hermit @cavyherd @edsuom @samir Is Dailymotion or Vimeo a good YouTube alternative? We use both for work and they suit us well.  @jackyan @Urban_Hermit @edsuom @samir @Mojeek Both Dailymotion or Vimeo seem viable. I've never dealt with them from the content creator side, but a lot of creators I know & respect tend to use Vime. Wait—DDG is Bing? I.e., Microsoft? I...thought they were some entirely independent outfit? Oh, I see. It "partners" with Bing. 🤔. AIUI, it's chief virtue is lack of user tracking? @cavyherd @Urban_Hermit @edsuom @samir @Mojeek Sorry, I need to clarify: DDG (and Yahoo, Ecosia, Qwant, Neeva and others) license their results from Bing. The results are the same, which sadly means they are terrible! (The index gets smaller and smaller based on my research, so if you need something specific, it could be tricky.) @cavyherd @Urban_Hermit @edsuom @samir You can supplement your searches with @Mojeek, and you can have DDG at the bottom of each page of Mojeek hasnʼt given you the right result. With a relatively small user base, Mojeekʼs ordering isnʼt the best, but it will improve if more of us use it. @Urban_Hermit @cavyherd @edsuom @samir You could try to upload a Grammarly ad to PeerTube or Vimeo and just keep it playing on a loop to recreate the YouTube experience.  @LaNaehForaday @Urban_Hermit  I edited the post for you so your brain doesnt get hung up on a stupid and OBVIOUS typo... ... ... @cavyherd @samir When I first switched over to DuckDuckGo it was like entering a Time Machine . I was transported back to the days of old when google wasn’t reading my mind. For good or ill, I seem to be a devout Luddite. The minute I started hearing about Fb's privacy shenanigans, I deleted my account with extreme prejudice. (I'd already started to avoid it, bc old unwanted acquainances kept bubbling up out of the woodwork.) Never had an interaction with Ig until after Fb bought it, so was never a temptation. Being tech avoidant has its price, but def certain advantages 😂 & chronic poverty limits the impulse spending. @cavyherd @sdeltergo @samir I admire your approach! I left a lot of the Big Tech sites but weaned myself off. But then I had to find a way to continue looking after clients while minimizing my time on their platforms. Yeah, that whole conscience/livelihood tradeoff is a killer. I discovered a long time ago that by far the easiest way to break a bad habit is to never start 😂 & I am deeply & profoundly lazy, so.... > I've largely sworn off Amazon, too. I get that they're impossible to avoid completely, & my little wallet-vote doesn't amount to a hill of beans, but where I have choice I exercise it. I remember back when they were just dodgey & not yet openly evil, I kept thinking "Seduced by the convenient side of the Force" every time I'd make a 1-Click purchase. At least avoiding them minimizes the stain on /my/ soul...? Oh, plastic is a whole 'NOTHER kettle of fish altogether. The worst part of it is it's SO GODDAMN USEFUL. & there are functions for which, really, nothing else will do. But the whole "Throw Away" economy is just asdf;eaefwkae a;feaefwkjl ::foams at mouth:: And at this stage, it's /impossible/ to avoid. Especially if you have any fantasies of wanting to, you know, eat. Or get medical care. And (ATM) there's just no financial incentive to find alternatives. 🤬🤬🤬 > @cavyherd @sdeltergo @samir Ditto with Amazon and its subsidiaries, though getting rid of AWS took years after one of my IT friends put us on it. Long story but it was hard when youʼre not a computer expert! By all accounts it's hard even if you /are/ a computer expert. AWS has wormed its way so deep into the infrastructure of the internet, it's basically impossible to avoid, at this point, from what I understand. @cavyherd @sdeltergo @samir Plus it has the worst UI of any major site that Iʼve seen in a long time. Nothing in there is comprehensible to a layperson. The worst value for money, too. No wonder they are getting richer and richer. |
@cavyherd @samir It’s the only search engine I’ve used for at least five years now, maybe longer. Works just fine.